


There’s beauty in strength

by Melime



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Community: femslashficlets, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-30
Updated: 2016-07-30
Packaged: 2018-07-27 15:04:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7623361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Melime/pseuds/Melime
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Herah wonders about the meaning of beauty</p>
            </blockquote>





	There’s beauty in strength

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Português brasileiro available: [Há beleza na força](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7623373) by [Melime GreenLeaf (Melime)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Melime/pseuds/Melime%20GreenLeaf)



> Prompt: 2. [Some men say an army of horse](http://fsf-mod.dreamwidth.org/620.html)

When Herah was no more than a little girl, her father used to sit her down and tell her of the dreadnoughts with his eyes shining in awe. “There’s beauty in strength,” he would say, describing the fleets capable of leveling entire cities without losing a single soldier. Even then she would wonder what beauty was, because she looked at the illustrations of cities burning and saw only fear and despair. He admired those ships more than anything else in this world, and she just hoped that one day she would find something to bring such light to her eyes as the memory of them brought to her father’s, because then she would understand, and in understanding that, she hoped to better understand him.

Cullen looked at the troops in the same way, as if what was in front of him was the most beautiful vision in the world, but she still couldn’t understand. She looked at the troops and she saw scared children, many too young to really know what was a war, all desperate to defend something, none would survive this unscared. She wanted to ask what was the beauty he saw in that, but didn’t, because she feared the answer.

Master Dennet looked at his horses in the same way, seeing beauty where she saw only ordinary beasts of burden. She couldn’t tell apart those who were fast and agile from those who were strong and resilient, couldn’t understand what was so especial about them, and that only added to her confusion.

What was beauty then? What did all these things have in common?

Her epiphany came when they first battled a dragon. Such a powerful and mighty beast, capable of crushing them under a single paw if it so wished, and Cassandra charged at it without fear.

Cassandra was a dragonhunter in training and blood, and it showed in her every move. Every action was the most efficient, every blow was striking, every swing of her sword spread blood through the air. She stood victorious over the dragon’s corpse glowing with might, and it was then that Herah finally understood.

She kissed Cassandra, celebrating their victory achieved without significant harm, but also thanking her for showing Herah what she could never understand up to that point. There was beauty in strength, yes, just like her father had always said, but that beauty was in the eye of the beholder. Better would have been to say that strength could be terrifying and destructive, but it could also be beautiful and admirable, as long as its source was in one’s heart. It wasn’t the might of the dreadnoughts or the troops or the horses that made them beautiful, but the love that was carried for them in those men’s hearts. And in her heart there was a mighty warrior, capable of defeating anyone who stood in her way, and the most beautiful vision in Herah’s world. There’s beauty in strength, but it can only be found through love.


End file.
